Condoning Force? The Unknown date? The Third or Sixth Hour? When did Jesus die?

Religion

How do animals and women fit in? Why do evil and viruses exist?

How big was the flood and why doesn't God intervene?

What is the Trinity to other religions? Where does Jesus fit in? Does purgatory exist?

No further word from God? Only containing God's words? What about the errors?

Can it have different meanings? May a bible story be legend? Help from outside the bible...?

How dangerous is wealth? What about forgiving the unrepentant? Can euthanasia be Christian? What makes a church a sect?

Is Jesus the one to follow? Did Jesus rise bodily? Jesus and the Holy Spirit? How is Christ coming back? A synthesis of traditions?

Am I a real disciple of Jesus? What do I do when I am tempted? Why should Christians suffer? Why are other Christians a problem?

Creationism? Evolution? Other populations than Adam's? Who was Cain's Wife? Does God feel threatened? Was he harsh on Pharoah?

No images? No art? Show no mercy?

32. Matthew 11:12 - Condoning Force.  Please explain: 'From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.' Is this persecution or what?

Richard Bewes' response to this comes down to a matter of semantics.  He argues that it isn't persecution.  Rather he argues that John the Baptist was a forceful preacher.  He inspired many to flock to jesus, but "not so much a with a physical violence, but with the violence of people in earnest." He concludes by arguing that "those with with everything against them, won the Kingdom by the violence of their determination."

Bewes is essentially arguing that Jesus' followers won the Kingdom, not through physical violence, but rather the power of belief.  My response to this is twofold.  Firstly, I think it's a inspiring story about the strength of faith.  But secondly, and, more importantly, I can't help but think of the violence that the Israelites carried out in taking the Promised Land in the first place.  I know that the Canaanites were immoral and deserved it, but I don't think I could ever get behind any argument that supports genocide.

35. Matthew 24:36 - The Unknown Date - Why didn't Jesus know the date of his return? How does this affect his deity?

Richard Bewes' answer to this is very straightforward.  He argues that Christ's main responsibility was "only to say and teach those things that he had been sent to say."

He was not to know any information about his second coming, as he only knew as much as he was supposed to.  Bewes concludes that while each member of the Trinity is of the same essential nature, they do not carry out the same functions.  This means that Jesus' deity should not be devalued.  Rather, this knowledge was in God's domain, which I think makes sense.

37. Mark 15:25 The Third or Sixth Hour? The Gospel of Mark states that Jesus was crucified at the third hour.  Even modern versions do not deviate.  From the other Gospels we knew that the crucifixion took place at the sixth hour.

Bewes has a purely technical explanation for this: a simple typographical error.  He argues that within "the earliest Greek manuscripts, the numerals Third and Sixth would have looked very similar.  'Third' is shown by a simple gamma letter - like a capital L upside down.  'Sixth' is shown by exactly the same figure - like a continental seven back to front.  It is called the Di-gamma."

Richard Bewes posts that "somewhere in the long process of copying from manuscript to manuscript, one copyist forgot to put in the tiny cross-bar, and the Di-Gamma was inadvertently changed into a gamma."

Bewes clarifies that this simple mistake has made little impact on the doctrine or the beliefs of readers.  I like this simple, logical explanation, as it emphasises one reason why I think small contradictions and discrepancies appear in the bible: human error.  Because of people making mistakes when copying from manuscript to manuscript.  Although, as we have already seen, these little mistakes haven't majorly affected the religion.

40. John 13:1 - When did Jesus die? There seems to be disagreement between John's Gospel and the other Gospel writers, over when the Passover and the Last Supper took place, the day before Jesus died? Why this discrepancy?

Like most of these questions, Richard Bewes answers this one by highlighting how the Gospels serve to fill each other in.

Bewes argues that while Matthew, Mark and Luke agreed that the Last Supper occurred on the Jewish Passover, the day before Jesus' death, John teaches that the Last Supper appears to happen earlier than the Passover.  But Bewes offers a different way of interpreting this.  He believes that we should compare the words 'Jesus Knew' with 'before the feast of the Passover.' The meaning then changes to how it reads in the Twentieth Century New Testament:

"Before  the Passover Festival began, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father.  He had loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them to the last."

This signifies that Jesus knew it was time for him to die, which is how it was understood by early Christian thinkers.  I think this is a sensible and logical explanation.

As per usual, I welcome all comment s and criticisms.  Just keep it mature.  Keep it intelligent.  Keep it respectful.